Disappearances
by cam94509
Summary: Takari, Soratto. Kari's parent's disappear. T.K's mother is kidnapped, and his father, who has an alibi, is arrested to cover up a scandal.
1. Missing

Ch 1: Missing:

A/N: What do you mean; I have to choose 2 genres? I used two genres in this chapter! (Hurt/comfort, Romance).

7:00 AM

"I'll see you next week!" I shouted as my parents left. They were going on a boat cruise, leaving me at home alone. Tai was gone, off to college, where he was staying over the summer, since he was on a different continent (North America), and we couldn't really afford to have him flying from here to the U.S. every few weeks. I was 15 now; two years had passed since I had last been in the digital world. Their cruise left at 8:00, and so they probably should have been gone an hour or so ago, but they'd make it without much trouble leaving now, and this way, I didn't have to get up any earlier to see them off.

My mom said, "Remember, just because we're gone doesn't mean you can break the house rules: No drugs, no alcohol, and talk to me before you and any boy do anything sexual. There are some things we probably should talk about first."

I laughed, "Mom, don't worry about it, nothing is going to happen in a week."

"Alright, alright. You know it's my job to worry."

"I know."

"Love you, Kari."

"Love you too, Mom. Have fun on your cruise with Dad."

She left.

8 hours later: T.K's perspective:

I was bored, if I was watching the news. That is, until they started talking about a missing cruise ship. I had to know that it wasn't the cruise ship that Kari's parents were on before I could settle down.

It was the ship with an 8:00 AM departure time. Her parent's were on that ship, I knew it. This meant Kari's parents were missing.

About 5 minutes later:

"What do you mean; they lost contact with the ship?" Kari yelled, "What about my parents!"

"Relax. They're looking for them, or so they said on the news. Still, I knew you would want to know." I said into the phone.

"T.K… You aren't pulling my leg here, right?"

"No. Your parents are missing… Kari, you know I'm not that heartless."

"I'm sorry… I'm just really worried. What if we never hear from them again? What would become of me? T.K… I want to see my parents again! Oh my god… Oh my god, PLEASE let me wake up…"

"Kari… You aren't dreaming. Look, I'm going to come over to your house, if that's ok, because it seems like you need someone to talk to."

"It's ok. I do need someone to talk to."

I told my mother I was going to go comfort a friend, she told me to be back home soon, I don't know if she was paying any attention to me at all, and I ran out the door

5 minutes later:

I could hear the doorbell ring. She ran to the door, and opened it.

"T.K…I can't tell you how much it means to me that you are willing to listen to me. Really."

"Something that could be awful just happened to you. What else am I going to do, leave you all alone with nobody to talk to?"

"Thank you anyway… Come on in."

I walked in the door, and shut it behind me. Kari's eyes were red on red at the moment, the puffy red of crying on her naturally reddish-brown eyes.

"Kari, they're just fine. There are already search parties out, and they were on a boat, the weather was good, their radio probably just failed."

"I know, I know… I'm still worried."

"Do you need a hug?"

"T.K… Don't offer me a hug."

"Why not?"

"I… like you. It wouldn't mean the same thing to me as it would to you…"

She was blushing, and my heart was racing. "I like you as more than a friend, too."

"Really?"

"Really. Now, do I get a hug?"

She threw her arms around me, crying again. After a few moments, she whispered, "Just promise… Just promise you'll be here for me when I need you."

"I'm here for you now, aren't I?"

"I still want you to promise."

"I promise."

"Thank you"

"If I ever need you, will you be there for me?"

"Yeah."

"That means a lot to me."

I held her there, while she cried. I probably spent ten minutes with my arms wrapped around her, but I didn't mind. It felt right, being so close to her, and she seemed to take comfort in the embrace.

Eventually, she calmed down, and we released each other, sitting down next to one another on her families couch."

"Now I don't even know how to feel." Kari said, "I'm happy that you like me back, angry at the cruise line, worried about my parents, a little turned on by you…"

"I don't know how you should feel… or how I should feel. I'm really sorry that your parents are missing, really happy about the way you feel about me, a little worried about your parents, though they're probably just fine, and really unhappy about the way it's hurting you."

A short period of silence ensued. Neither of us had any experience with dealing with relationships, and even if we'd known what to say, it wouldn't have made any difference, because we didn't even know how to feel.

The silence was broken when we started laughing at the moment. We didn't know why, but the silence was kind of funny.

"It's not really funny, is it?" I said, as I stopped laughing.

"No, but the awkward silence was."

"True, true."

"Thank you, T.K… I feel a lot better now."

"You're welcome. I'm glad to help. Do you want me to go now?"

"No. I'm alone ALL day, T.K… Hopefully not for longer than that. Let's… watch a movie, or something."

"Or something… I don't know, there ARE more interesting things" I said, aware of what I was implying… and aware that she wasn't ready. I just wanted to make her blush.

"I didn't mean it like that. No, I don't want… _that_, alright?"

"That?" I asked innocently.

"Sex." She said, blushing, "_Nothing_ sexual, alright?"

"Alright."

"Good. You knew perfectly well what I mean, didn't you?"

"Yeah, but I like to see you act all awkward. You're so CUTE when you do!"

"Aren't I cute the rest of the time, too?"

"Very… But you're cuter when you're embarrassed."

"Am I?"

"Yeah."

"Alright, then, mister 'innocent'", she said, making air quotes, "since you don't want to watch a movie, and you aren't trying to get some action, what DO you want to do?"

"Let's go get ice cream or something. I mean, it's a beautiful day out."

"Ice cream it is."

Outside a nearby ice cream parlor, about ten minutes later.

Kari and I sat down. Apparently, I was paying too much attention to her and not enough attention to my ice cream melted down the side of the cone, and dripped on to my shirt.

"T.K, your shirt probably doesn't want to eat your ice cream, so stop force feeding it."

It would have been a weak joke… if anyone other than Kari had told it. I knew this, yet I couldn't help but laugh.

"You're about to be wearing ice cream too, if you don't pay more attention to it." I replied.

"Thank you." She said, cleaning up a stream of melting ice cream dribbling down her cone.

I paid more attention to my cone, now. Still, barely enough, because every time I looked up, my ice cream seemed to pick that time to melt faster… either that or I spent longer than I meant to, simply staring into her eyes.

Within five minutes, however, we were both done with our cones, and she said, "Thank you. That was fun. What do you want to do now?"

"I probably should get home, Kari… My mother wanted me to be home soon."

"Alright. Well, you'll call tomorrow, right?"

"Right." I said.

"Bye", I said, kissing her on the cheek.

"See you." She said, and we went our separate ways.

"I'm home!" I said, as I entered my house. No answer.

_That's odd._ I thought _Where is my mother?_

End Ch 1: Missing._  
_


	2. Eyewall

CH 2: The Eye wall

A/N: The area just outside the eye of a hurricane, for those of you who didn't already know this, is the most intense part… And if it's you're first time through the eye wall, there's a period of calm (the fabled 'eye of the storm'), and you get hit with it again.

Oh, btw. For my reviewer who said 'put it down'… What does that mean?

"Mom!?" I yelled, a little worried now.

No answer.

I hurried up to check by her computer. Her wallet was there, and so was her cell phone. She ALWAYS carried her cell phone with her.

_Calm down. She's just…_ _out taking a walk._ I thought,_ Maybe she got fed up with her fellow reporters, and left her phone here. Yeah… that makes sense… I'll give her 15 minutes, and if she doesn't come back then, that's when I'll panic. _

15 minutes passed. Still, no sign of my mother. Within 10 minutes, I was already panicked, but I didn't do anything because I'd promised myself I wouldn't do anything rash.

I picked up the phone. I would call Matt first, and get his advice.

"Hey!" Sora said as she picked up the phone. Matt had been dating her for two years now. For some reason, she loved him, even though he was hardly good to her. She gave him flowers, he never gave her flowers. He clearly didn't love her, so I was puzzled as to why he even stuck with her in the first place… or why she stuck with him. But it really wasn't any of my business, and it definitely wasn't relevant.

"Hi, Sora. Can I talk to Matt, please?"

"Matt?" I heard her say, "T.K is on the phone. He wants to speak to you."

A few moments later, Matt asked me, "What's up?"

"Mom is… missing, I think. She left her cell phone and wallet at home, and I've been waiting over 15 minutes since I got home, and she's still not back yet!"

A moments pause, "That sounds bad. First of all, where were you, and about how long were you gone for?"

"I was talking to Kari, her parents cruise went missing today. I was gone for about 45 minutes."

"T.K… Have you thought that you might be panicking because someone you know, and love," He inserted the second part teasingly, of course, he was totally unaware of me and Kari's relationship, "parents went missing, and so you're afraid it might have happened to you?"

"Matt, mom NEVER leaves her cell phone at home."

"That's why I'm not just saying, 'you're panicking over nothing.' Still, it strikes me as … odd that both of you should have similar, incredibly unlikely events, happen to you on the same day."

"I don't know either. What should I do?"

"Hey, I'm not done asking questions yet."

"Right."

"When you entered the house, was the door unlocked?"

I hadn't had to unlock the door. I didn't realize that it was fishy until now, because I had thought she was home, and she didn't lock the door unless she was away, and then in the instant chaos that followed, the door not being locked had simply been forgotten.

"Yes."

"Alright… This is bad. Hey, dad? T.K says … My mother… is missing." I heard Matt shout everything after this is bad. The pause around "My mother" was probably because Mom was a tender topic around Dad. "I don't know. It doesn't SOUND like she was kidnapped, but yet that's the only logical explanation…"

A few seconds pause.

"Alright, T.K, thank you. I'm going to come pick you up, and then we'll sort this mess out."

"Thanks, Matt."

"No problem."

It took Matt about five minutes to reach the house.

"Alright, so, what are we going to do?"

"Dad's called the cops, and sent me to pick you up. I'm sure it's been a hard day for you, and the last thing you need is somebody cross-examining you.

"Thanks. Seriously, that makes life easier for me." I said, getting in.

As he drove towards my father's house, Matt turned on a CD of his band. It was a recording of one of his first concerts, the one from Christmas of the last year in which we had been in the digital world. Of course, the recording didn't have the song that Matt had been interrupted by a digimon during, because he had edited that one out.

Which brought me back to an earlier thought: Why did Matt stay with Sora anyway if he didn't like her.

"Hey Matt. I noticed something. You don't seem to have any feelings for Sora. Why are you still with her?"

Matt laughed, "You'd like to know that, wouldn't you?"

"Why else would I ask?"

Matt laughed again, "T.K, that was 'I'm not going to tell you.'"

"I know that. I was saying, 'I'm not going to take that for an answer.'

"Yes. I was saying 'I'm not going telling you ANYWAY."

"Whatever."

He turned the music up a little.

Of course, now I was REALLY curious. Why wouldn't he answer?

"Alright, Matt. What are you trying to 'protect' me from?"

"You probably don't want to know."

"You're not…"

"Yes, we are. Oh come on, T.K… I'm an adult. So is she. There's nothing wrong or illegal about it."

"You win. I didn't want to know that… Ugh…"

"Oh come on. Like you've never looked at a girl and thought about her that way."

"There's a difference between THINKING a girl is hot and actually doing her, Matt."

"Yes, T.K." He rolled his eyes, "Still, you don't get to play innocent."

"What else am I supposed to say?"

"Almost anything else."

"Right, like 'That's cool'… Whatever, Matt."

"Maybe you shouldn't have asked then."

"I still don't understand why you date her if you only want-"

"Because Sora is hot, and because she isn't that kind of whore."

"Matt… Shut up." He was starting to piss me off. Matt, no matter how much I loved him, was highly immoral, and a complete jerk.

"What, am I embarrassing you?" And now he was teasing me. God, I hated when he did this.

"No, you're offending my sense of righteousness."

"Aww… Is Teeks being self-righteous? So cute!"

"Shut… UP!"

"Make me, blondie."

"You're blond, too, you dumb-ass."

"Aww… Teeks is swearing."

"Matt, seriously. Your being a jerk!"

"Yeah, and you're being self-righteous."

"What do you think Sora would say if she heard you called her a whore, Matt?"

"She won't hear that, will she?"

"Not if you shut up."

"I thought you were the righteous one… Blackmail! Seriously, man, that's the lowest of low."

"Perhaps you shouldn't say things that are tasteless if you don't want to get blackmailed."

"Fine, fine. I get it, I'll shut up."

"Thank you."

It was silent the rest of the way to my father's house. I didn't exactly like the silence, but really, it was much better than hearing what Matt had to say about Sora.

When we got there, I saw my father in hand-cuffs.

"Hello. Officers. You weren't thinking about arresting someone who couldn't have committed the crime he's being accused of, now would you? I mean, unless he can be in two places at once, I sincerely doubt he's the kidnapper." Matt said, sounding acidic and poisonous.

"He's the only person with ANY sort of motive. The courts will decide whether or not he was somewhere else. Sorry, but rock stars like yourself have little respect for the law, so I'm not going to take your word for it. " the officer replied.

"They're looking for an excuse." Matt whispered to me, "Dad broke a corruption scandal, so they're looking for a way to discredit him."

My fist clenched involuntarily. For once, at least, Matt looked like he was angry, too. Sadly, there was nothing I could do about it, no words I could say that would help, so I watched helplessly as they took my father away.

"Where do I go now?" I asked Matt as they left.

"I'll take you in. It's been a hell of a day, hasn't it?"

"Yeah… if only Kari had a place to go, too."

"If I can leave the two of you alone, I'll take her in too. However, if I catch the two of you so much as TOUCHING when I come home from something, I'll kill you both." He said, with a slight smile on his face.

"Matt… Uh… She's my girlfriend."

"Oh. Congrats, I guess. No touching her _sexually_, then. We have a deal?"

"Yes, hypocrite. We have a deal."

"Whatever… And I'm not a hypocrite. I'm just trying to keep you from hurting yourself."

"Alright. You know I'm not actually thinking about… _that_ yet with Kari."

"Yeah, yeah… Just don't call me a hypocrite."

"Alright, alright."

"You should call your girlfriend then. One moment, I'm going to go talk to Sora."

"Right."

End Ch 2: The eye wall.


	3. Rollercoaster

Ch 3: Rollercoaster

I picked up the phone, and dialed Kari's number.

"Hello, Matt." She answered the phone.

I laughed; her caller I.D. probably would say 'Matt'.

"Kari, it's me, T.K."

"What are you doing at your father's house, T.K?"

"Give me a moment; I'm going to explain."

"Alright, take as long as you need, handsome."

I laughed. She couldn't even see me at the moment, and she was calling me 'handsome'.

"Alright. So, to start with, it seems that there's someone targeting the Digidestined's parents. Your parents have gone missing, my mother has been kidnapped. My father was arrested, accused of kidnapping my mother. He has an alibi, but sadly, the cops seem out to get him… he broke a corruption scandal a few weeks ago."

"So what happens to you?"

"Matt is taking me in, taking my dad's house until Dad can take care of it again. Matt will also take you in, as well. Should I tell him you're ready to come over?"

"No. I need to pack some stuff."

"Should I call you later?"

"Yeah. I'd love to stay on the phone, but I need two free hands"

"Maybe I can Matt to drop me off and I could help you pack."

"That would be wonderful."

"Alright, I'll talk to Matt about it. I'll call you again if I can't."

"Sounds good to me."

"See you in a bit."

"Talk to you later."

I pressed the end button.

Apparently, Matt was done talking to Sora, and had been for a while, because he was leaned on a wall, seeming to be waiting impatiently.

"From what I heard, you want me to drop you off so you can help her pack?"

"Yes."

"Alright. You go get in the car; I'll be out in a few minutes."

I got in the car, and sure enough, Matt was there just a few minutes.

"Dude, what was it that you needed to talk to Sora about, anyway."

"I'd… rather not talk about it."

"Do I not want to know, or do you not want me to know?"

"I don't want you to know… Sora probably wouldn't want you to know, either."

"You two are fighting?" I guessed

"_Were _fighting" Matt corrected, turning the keys and beginning our drive to Kari's house.

"You seemed awfully confident about your relationship with her when we were in the car."

"Yeah, we fight a lot, T.K… Most of them involve me saying something that she finds offensive but that I won't take back… The only reason I really cared if she found out that I called her a whore was because I was already fighting with her."

"Wow, you really don't give a shit about how she feels. That's really kind of disturbing."

"She knows I don't love her… Or at least, I've told her that I don't love her. It's not my fault she won't get over the idea that I love her, somewhere deep down inside."

"Matt… Please stop."

"Why?"

"I don't really want to know what you think about Sora, because to be honest, she's putting up with you when she SHOULDN'T, refusing to just walk away, even though you fight, from how I understand it, nearly constantly. Instead, she just keeps forgiving you, and hoping that you'll come around.

And yet even then, you simply use her more. You treat her as if she's meaningless to you. You practically LAUGH at her love for you, taking advantage of it, and giving absolutely nothing back. You don't act the same way as you did when I was younger, you've become a monster… and I REALLY don't want to hear about the way you see things now. I'd rather be naïve about why you really act the way you do, then to have to put up with the anger you cause me when you begin your rationale." My rant finally came to an end, and Matt seemed unfazed.

"Whatever, T.K." he said, as Kari's house came into sight.

"Whatever? _Whatever?_" I shouted, outraged.

"You said my rationale makes you angry, so I won't rationalize at all. You're right. I do give nothing back. I don't think it makes me a monster, I don't love her, and really, she would be more hurt if I just left."

"You don't have to take advantage of her in the first place, though! Just because you can't leave her, you don't have to mistreat her!"

"True… But I'm not sure I'm mistreating her, T.K. Anyway, we're here." He said, as he parked his car next to the sidewalk.

"See you." I said, as I got out.

"You too." He replied.

I began walking towards the front door, and Matt drove away. Before I even reached the door, Kari had opened it.

"Hey T.K… You look really angry. What's wrong?" She asked, seeming worried.

"Matt. He's such a jerk!"

"What do you mean? He's taking us in, how is he a jerk?"

"I didn't mean towards me. He treats Sora like… I'm not sure I have words for it." I said, as I went inside.

"How so?" She asked, walking towards into her room.

I noticed it was immaculately clean, very different from my room back home.

"I … Alright, can you promise not to tell Sora?"

"Why?"

"Because I told Matt I wouldn't tell Sora what he called her if he shut up, because he was offending me."

"Sorry, no promise."

"Sorry, but I'm a man of my word."

"I thought you said Matt was being a jerk. If he is, and he won't listen to you, which, from the way you were acting when you arrived, he won't, why don't you do something about it?" She picked up a book as she said this, and put it in a bag.

"Because it's really none of my business. Yeah, Matt is mistreating Sora. But it's not like he's beating her or something! It's really not my place to get involved."

"I would want Sora to get involved if you were mistreating me." I really wasn't doing much to help her pack, she was doing it all herself.

"That's only because I'm not."

"I don't understand you're logic."

"Please, Kari, can we drop it?"

"I guess. Can you go get me that? And DON'T open it." She pointed to a book, which, from the looks of it, was her diary.

I did, without opening it, "That's your diary?"

She blushed, and stopped what she was doing "Yeah."

"You're embarrassed because…?"

She was unable to look me in the eyes, "Because… Because…" She trailed off.

"Because you write a lot about me?"

"Yeah..." She was blushing even more fiercely now, and looking at the ground as she spoke.

"For some reason, I really like that, Kari."

She looked up from the ground, "You do?"

"Yeah."

The blush was fading from her cheeks now, "Really? You don't think I'm too obsessed with you?"

"I don't mind you being obsessed with me, Kari. I'm a little obsessed with you, myself."

She lost her grip on the dairy. When it hit the ground, it fell open to a page that was covered in hearts, and in text I couldn't have read if it wasn't so familiar. As it was, it was my name, written over and over again. She picked up the book, closed it, blushing again, and put it in her bag.

"You didn't read that, did you?"

"Uh…" I wasn't sure what to say

"You did?" She was blushing more fiercely then ever, now.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to."

"You knew it was my dairy!"

"I said I was sorry… Besides, you really shouldn't be some embarrassed."

"Is my handwriting really that bad?" She asked, looking vaguely relieved, although still bright red. More than anything else, though, she looked like she was angry.

"No. I could read it. I'm sorry I looked, because it could have fallen open to somewhere far more… private. Something that you SHOULD be embarrassed about, rather than something that's silly to be embarrassed about. To be honest, I love the way you think about me… No, to be honest, I love you."

I could tell she wasn't angry anymore, even before she began to respond. "I forgive you. And… I love you, too."

She stood there, too far apart, yet close enough to touch, facing me, looking like she was waiting for something. I leaned in, hesitated for a moment, looking into her red-brown eyes. She was, as always, beautiful, to the point that she took my breath away.

And then, I kissed her, putting my hands on her shoulders as I did so. In the heat of the moment, I knocked over her bag, spilling its contents on the floor.

I noticed, although it didn't change my course of action at all. She seemed to notice, but she didn't seem to care.

The kiss ended, and as we moved apart, she laughed, "Very graceful, knocking over the bag."

"I should pick that up, shouldn't I?" I said.

"No, it's all right. If you don't mind, there are some things I need to pack that… um… are…" She flushed, "Private. Once that's done, I should be ready to go, so you should probably call your older brother and tell him to come pick us up."

"Alright. I'll leave you to your packing… Love you." I said as I left her so she could pack the things she'd rather not mention.

"Love you, too."

I closed the door behind me, and I heard a drawer open in her room as I walked down the stairs.

I picked up the phone, and called Matt.

"Hey, T.K." Matt said as he picked up the phone

"Hello, Matt." I replied.

"You're ready to be picked up then?" He asked

"Yes, and so is Kari, or at least she will be by the time that you get here."

"Ah… She got rid of you so she could pack something? I didn't think she was that sneaky."

"She TOLD me she didn't want me to see what she was packing, Matt. Unlike you, my girlfriend has reason to TRUST me."

"Alright, alright. I'm on my way, and I'll keep my comments to myself."

"Good."

"See you soon"

"You too."

I hung up. I wasn't going to rush Kari; I'd wait until she came downstairs. This left me time to reflect on the events of the day.

I was REALLY unsure what to feel. On one hand, I was mortified. My mother kidnapped, my father, who couldn't have done it, arrested as her kidnapper. The girl who was now my girlfriend, and had at the days opening been my best friend's parents were missing. Who was next?

On the other hand, I was walking on air. Kari felt the same way about me as I felt about her. She said she loved me. I'd kissed her. The page in the dairy, covered in my name, written down a page, with little hearts by it every time, popped into my head. It left me feeling warm, comfortable when I thought about this.

So I was a wreck. Terrified; exhilarated, like being on a rollercoaster. But this coaster wasn't tested. Its thrill wouldn't be in its danger, but in the wonders that flew by as I rode it. Of course, unlike any other rollercoaster, I only got to ride it once, and I was the only person who would ever get to ride it.

Kari tapped me on the shoulder.

"Earth to T.K?"

I turned around, "Huh?"

"I've been standing here behind you for almost a minute now. What are you thinking about?"

"Reflecting on the events of the day… It's been utterly chaotic."

"Yeah, I guess so."

"Kari… If I hadn't gone over to comfort you, do you think I'd have disappeared, too? Just like all those people on the boat?"

"I don't know. I'd hope not, but sadly, I think I'd be down one more person who I loved."

"Kari…" I began to stroke her hair, "If I can help it, I'll never leave you like that."

"T.K. 'if I can help it'? That's not very reassuring."

"I'm sorry I can't promise you more."

"I understand." She put an arm around me, just as the doorbell rang.

She released me, and blushed slightly.

"You ready to go?" I asked quietly

"Yes." She said, and we walked to the front door. I had to help her get about half her stuff, but it didn't take us long to load the car.

Kari and I got into the back of Matt's car together.

Matt was different again, this car ride. He was silent; perhaps he recognized that he couldn't get away with saying the things he'd said to me to Kari.

"Kari, what's wrong?" I whispered to her.

"Nothing." Yet I could see that she was looking at something, and I could see that she was crying.

"Something reminding you of your parents?"

"Yes, T.K… an old picture, from when I was young… A year or so before Tai went off to summer camp."

A year before we all ceased being normal children and started being Digidestined. A year before we shouldered the responsibilities and shared the joys that made us more mature than our peers.

"They'll be alright, Kari. I… I'm sure of it." I lied. I wasn't sure. I was uncertain; my optimism had begun to waver.

"Are you? Or are you just trying to make me feel better?"

"I… I'm-" I paused for too long, thus making it clear that I was lying.

"You're lying."

"Sorry. I was trying to help."

"Don't lie to me, T.K."

"I'm sorry." I repeated, probably coming of as a little defensive.

"It's alright, I'm not angry, I understand you were trying to make me feel better, but I really would rather know the truth then believe a lie, whether or not it makes me feel good."

Apparently, Matt had been listening, because I heard him laugh.

"Matt, shut up. Nobody really cares what you think." I said

"Seriously." Kari added, "I'm pretty sure I didn't say anything any sane person would think was funny."

"Did I say anything?" Matt replied, still laughing slightly, "More to the point, I don't really have anything to say, so telling me to shut up is pointless."

"Yeah, yeah… I don't really care; just keep whatever it is you're thinking to yourself." I said

"I will." Matt said, sounding vaguely amused.

"Where were we before we were interrupted?" Kari said, sounding playful rather than serious now.

"You'd just told that you'd rather know the truth, whether or not the truth will hurt. I was about to say that I'd keep that in mind."

"Alright then, say it."

"I'll try to remember that in future."

"You'd better." She said, sounding serious again. Seriously, I wish she'd make up her mind as to how she felt… Then again, I wasn't totally sure how I felt right now.

"I promise."

We reached Matt's house, which was now my house and Kari's house, too.

"Alright, T.K, you're going to sleep in your old room. I'm going to take over my father's bedroom, and Kari, you can sleep in the room that I'll no longer be in. Anyway, my band and I are going to be practice today in about 30 minutes, so I'll have to leave as soon as possible." Matt said as we exited the car.

I laughed, and then turned to Kari and said, "Do you mind if I help you get your stuff up to your room?"

"Thanks, but I really didn't pack that much… Anyway, Matt, you'll need to clear out first, right?"

"Not really. I did that while the two of you were packing." Matt said.

"Alright. T.K, will you show me where my room is?"

"Sure." I said.

"Alright. I'm off." He said.

No 'don't-try-anything' at least, for once.

I lead Kari upstairs, point out my room, and then, a few steps further down the hall, her room. She opened the door, and went inside, motioning for me to follow, which I did.

"I'm… worried." She whispered, she said, sitting on a sleeping bag she'd set up.

"Don't be. It'll be alright." I sat down next to her, and tried to put an arm around her. To my surprise, she pushed my arm away.

"Thanks, but you've already told me you weren't sure of that, and then you promised you wouldn't lie… And you're lying again."

"I didn't say 'your parents will be alright', I said 'it'll be alright'. Like, 'No matter what happens, we'll pull through this'. And with you by my side, I know that I, at least, will pull through this… and I hope that you know that I'll do my best to help you pull through, as well."

She smiled. "Thank you. That really makes me feel better." And she kissed me on the cheek.

"You're welcome… To be honest, I'm a little nervous."

"I know that… I'd be a little angry if I thought you weren't."

"Only a little? If I seriously thought you were heartless enough to not worry at all, I'd be really angry…."

"I'd only be a little angry at you if until I was sure that it wasn't just your optimism clouding your judgment… If I learned it wasn't, then I'd be angrier, T.K… But I know you _are _worried."

I smiled. She smiled, and we sat there, staring into one another's eyes, until I leaned in. She didn't lean away, and I kissed her on the lips for the second time today, but also only the second time in my life.

As the kiss ended, she whispered, "T.K… Without you, I'd be having the worst day of my life… I'd be worrying and fretting, and I'd probably be taking _years_ off my life. Thanks for being here for me."

"No problem." I would have added, 'that's what friends are for', but she was more than just my friend now, she was also my girlfriend now, "I'd be terrified if I didn't have you with me."

"I'll always be here for you." She whispered, making my 'no problem' sound weak.

"I know." I said, putting my arm around her shoulder. This time, she didn't push it away. Instead, she leaned her head on my shoulder.

We were silent for a moment. I broke this short-lived silence, "I love you." I whispered in her ear.

She smiled, and lifted her head enough to look at me.

"I love you, too." She whispered, and kissed me on the cheek. She looked … sad, somehow.

"Something wrong?"

"Besides the obvious? No… But I miss my family."

"I know. It's hard… Harder for you than for me, I guess, since all of your relatives are either missing or are somewhere else."

"Yeah" She was crying, "I'm sorry for wrecking the moment."

"It's alright. Your feelings are worth more to me than 'the moment'." I said, stroking her hair gently.

"Thank you." She whispered "It still… doesn't feel right to make you put up with me crying."

"It's alright. I really don't mind."

She didn't stop crying for a few more moments, but she finally managed a weak smile, and said, "Thanks."

I laughed, "I've already told you it isn't a problem. Anyway, should I leave you alone so you can unpack your bag?"

"If you would."

"Alright. I haven't eaten anything since that ice cream cone earlier, so I'm going to go order pizza."

"You'll share, right?"

"Of course."

End Chapter 3: Rollercoaster

A/N: Not counting this author's note, according to word, this is 3326 words long. I came up with the title when I was doing a quick run through for obvious grammatical errors and notes to self… because I hit T.K's comment about it being 'like being on a rollercoaster.'


	4. Powerless

Ch 4: Powerless

A/N: I changed the ending of the last chapter slightly. Much thanks to my little brother, who, when I came down stairs for the SECOND time to inspect the toaster oven to make sure that what I was doing was consistent with cooking poptarts, he asked me what character was cooking lunch. I told him, and he looked at me, and said, "Have him get pizza then!"

… I'd spent three days blocked by this, and there was an obvious solution. I still blame my writer's block for me not coming up with an answer.

This chapter was surprisingly difficult to write…

Disclaimer: I don't own digimon…___________________________________

I hung up the phone, made sure my wallet was in my back pocket (It was), and then sat down on the couch. I'd ordered the pizza, so now I had to wait. Wait for Kari, wait for the pizza, wait for my father's trail so that my father would come home, wait for Kari's parents to be found, wait for my mother's kidnapper to be located…

All this was about waiting, none of it about doing. I felt so powerless, something I wasn't used to. I rarely found anything I couldn't do, and when I did, I had normally avoided it. But now, I really had no choice, I couldn't just run away… except there was nothing I could do!

There had been a time, before, when I'd felt almost exactly like this. When Angemon had died in the Digital World, I had felt truly powerless. But then, I'd been more heartbroken then angry.

I was angry now, but it was nothing like the anger I'd felt at the forces of darkness, as I'd tried futilely to categorize them. I'd tried to draw lines between good and evil, but there was always this grey area.... It wasn't even that few things fell into this grey area. _**My own older brother**_ often fell into that category, when he was simultaneously treating Sora badly, but also taking me in, even when he was going to have enough problems with money just for himself. I'd never really known what to do when that grey area became involved. Even Davis was faster to act then I was.

However, at least then, I'd always had a target, and I'd always had control. Control that was different from my normal 'easy-going' self control that most people saw. No, it had always been more rigid, more disciplined. Like a gunshot, rather than like water.

Now, I had no target. Nothing to punch, no villain to beat to the ground, no chance to play hero. All I had was this anger that I could hardly control. I wanted to hit something, to throw something…

And yet, it wouldn't have done any good. Of course, that only made the anger worse. I was standing up; looking at the ceiling with both fists and my teeth clenched by the time Kari came downstairs, and walked beside me.

"Hey, T.K… Are you alright?" She said, sounding and looking worried when she saw the way that I was acting.

"Does it look like I'm alright?" I snapped. I instantly regretted it, especially when I looked at her, and saw how hurt and confused she looked, and so I apologized, "Sorry. I'm... just feeling powerless."

"It's alright." She said, smiling.

"No… I shouldn't have snapped at you. It WASN'T alright." I said quietly. It hadn't been alright. I hadn't meant to take it out on her; I'd just lost control and not thought before I'd said something harmful, but that didn't make it any better. If anything, it made it worse.

"Alright, then you're forgiven, if that's a better way of saying it." She said, looking almost amused at my semantics.

"Thank you." I said, grateful for her quickly forgiving me, but also for the fact that she had cared enough to ask me if I was alright, and decided to tell her as much, "For forgiving me, and also for caring enough to ask if I was alright at all, I mean."

"You're welcome."

The doorbell rang. Kari stepped a little ways back from me, too much for my liking, but I understood that public displays of affection were considered to be rude. I rushed over to the door, paid for the pizza, and gave the delivery guy a relatively generous tip.

As he left, I set pizza on the dining table, opened the box, and took a slice, sitting down on the couch to eat. Kari did the same.

"Earlier, you said you were feeling powerless. What did you mean by that?" She asked between bites of her pizza.

"Well, your parents have disappeared. My father has been arrested for something he didn't do. My mother has been kidnapped. Nothing I can do will have any effect on the outcome of these things. I can't do anything to make the result come any faster, either." I explained. Now, of course, I felt better, because Kari was here with me, and everything seemed better with her around.

"I understand. It'll be alright… No matter what happens, we'll pull through." She said, smiling comfortingly at me.

"I can believe that… But it becomes harder when you aren't here with me… and when I say 'here', I mean right next to me. I mean 'here' in the 'close enough to touch' sense."

"I couldn't believe it if I weren't next to you, either." She said, and her warm, cinnamon colored eyes met my sky-blue eyes. I was immersed in her eyes for… I don't know how long.

I would have kissed her, but I was vaguely aware of the half-eaten slice of pizza in my right hand, and I knew that it would be kind of awkward holding my arm away from her to avoid getting pizza all over her shirt while kissing her. She seemed to notice the same problem, and I mentally cursed myself for not getting a plate.

The eye contact finally broke when she took a bite of her pizza. I quickly finished my slice, and noticed she was done too. I quickly kissed her on the cheek.

She quickly kissed me back, "Now we're even."

I smiled, and kissed her again, "Not anymore."

She kissed me on the cheek again, "Now we are… And now, I'll occupy your lips so you can't make it uneven again." She tilted her head slightly, and kissed me on the lips.

I put my arms around her, and pulled her whole body closer to me. She did similar, until the only distance between us was the distance forced on us by our clothing. It was exciting in ways I wasn't really ready for… But I liked that. And while I wanted to be even closer, I was still in control enough not to try.

And then, I heard a key turning in the lock of the front door. The kiss broke, and within a second, the only contact between us was my arm around her shoulder.

The door opened, and Matt entered the room.

"What are you doing back so early?" I asked, slightly confused, and probably coming off as a little irritated.

"Short rehearsal, the drummer had to leave for a family crisis." He said, looking vaguely amused, and then, as if he smelled it, "Did you order a pizza or something?"

"Yes."

"Smart move… Mind if I take a slice?"

"Not at all."

"Alright, thank you." He said.

As he entered the dining room, Kari whispered, "That could have been REALLY embarrassing… I mean… we were a little close there…"

"Yeah…" I blushed slightly, thinking about _how_ close we'd been, and how much I'd liked it.

She noticed the blush, "So you liked it, too."

"N-Not like that", I lied.

"Don't try to lie, it's really obvious."

"Alright… just don't be judgmental or anything."

"T.K… I already admitted to … well…"

I finished the sentence that she apparently couldn't. "Being turned on. Did you?"

"Yeah, I said, 'you liked it, too.'… Too?"

"I guess you did."

She rested her head on my shoulder... she was still blushing slightly, and I felt a little guilty.

She was embarrassed. I should have pushed her away… Only, what good would that have done? I had been in a no-win situation.

"I'm sorry… I embarrassed you." I whispered. Even if there was nothing I could have done, I was still sorry.

"Hey, I brought it up, you shouldn't feel sorry." 

"What are you two whispering about?" Matt asked, turning his head around a corner to say this.

"Nothing!" Kari and I said simultaneously.

A/N: Not a great chapter… I'm uninspired.


	5. Dairy

Chapter 5: Dairy

A/N: This was inspired by a much weaker story I was writing, and then I realized that I could use it to salvage this story. Also, the last chapter is in desperate need of editing... So is the first one. : |

9:30 PM, the same day:

* * *

Kari's POV:

* * *

I sat down at the desk in the room, and did something very mundane for me: I opened my dairy to the next page.

_July 6_

_ S_omehow, writing this seemed too normal, for such an eventful day. But, to much of the rest of the world, this day had only was July 6th. It wasn't the day that everything changed. I continued:

_Today, everything changed._

"A fair analysis" I muttered to myself, as I continued on the same line.

_ My parents disappeared, T.K's mother disappeared, and his father was framed with kidnapping her. T.K and I are now boyfriend and girlfriend. I think we may be going a little to fast. I'll have to talk to him about that._

I laughed slightly. Ignoring the first two sentences, this could have been seen as a completely ordinary journal entry for a fifteen year old girl.

_To be honest, everything has gone to fast, though, so it's seemed kind of natural. I mean, in one day, I went from being a normal girl to being an orphan, taken in by the older brother of my boyfriend... who happens to be a rock star! And who happens to be an asshole, or at least according to T.K. Actually, T.K called him a 'jerk', not an asshole, but that's beside the point. T.K refuses to tell me why he says that, except that Matt is somehow 'mistreating Sora', although I can already attest to the fact that Matt has a weird sense of humor. _

_ Which reminds me of something strange that T.K said. When I said, "If you were mistreating me, I'd want Sora to get involved." He claimed that this was only because he's not. I'm not quite sure what he means, but T.K says he's not beating her or anything. I trust him... and I know he wouldn't let something like that slide anyway... Or, at least, I hope he wouldn't._

_ And then, there's T.K. He's trying to act happy, but it's clear he's not. He's been spacy and he's snapped a lot since his parents went missing... I kinda want the T.K who I knew at the beginning of the day back... The one who would just hold me when I cried. He's changed, and I don't really like it. Then again, I'm sure he'll change back. He's just stressed. _

_ And really, I'm stressed and spacy too. I just can't get my bearings, it's as if all my dreams have come true at once, but also my worst nightmare's have, too._

And then, I stopped writing, because I was about to start crying, and closed the dairy, and walked downstairs, knowing that I wouldn't be able to sleep any time soon.

_* * *_

T.K's POV:

* * *

I heard footsteps going down the stairs, and I recognized them instantly. If I'd had any hope of sleeping, or if I'd thought that Kari wasn't in desperate need of comforting, I might have stayed in bed, especially, because I was sure that Matt would be unhappy if he saw me and Kari together at this time of night. Then again, Matt was over at Sora's, and I had the feeling that he wasn't coming back until tomorrow morning.

So, I got up, dressed in my pajamas, and walked down the stairs.

When I saw her, I knew I'd made the right choice to come downstairs.

She was sitting on the couch, crying, or at least she had been. She was clearly trying to hide it when I reached the bottom of the stairs, but her eyes gave her away, red on red as they were the first time I'd seen her today.

"Kari... You can't lie to me. So don't try. I know your crying." I said, sitting down next to her.

"That's an interesting way of saying that." She replied.

"How should I have said it?"

"I don't know... You really didn't need to say anything at all, you know."

"True... True." I said, smiling gently at her.

She smiled back, and then abruptly frowned.

"Takeru, I want to talk to you about something."

"Yes?"

"We're going a little too fast for me... You understand, right?"

"Yeah... Alright, I understand."

"Thanks." She said, kissing me on the cheek.

"No problem... Feel vaguely better?"

"Vaguely." She said, with a weak smile.

"Alright... I'm going to try to sleep, you should probably do the same." I said, standing up.

"Yeah." She said, doing the same.

I kissed her cheek, and we walked up the stairs, closely behind one another, before we parted and went to our separate rooms for the night.

A/N: Way to short, but oh well. At least it's progress, right?


	6. Life as an obstacle

Chapter 6: _Life as an obstacle_

A/N: 10,000 words! Can I get a 'congratulations, keep up the good work'? Or am I going to have to make do with ads telling me, 'congratulations! You've won a free Ipod!'? Also, if this chapter is choppy, that's because I wrote a good bit of it while I was sick.

* * *

The next Morning

* * *

I woke up wondering why I wasn't in my bed at home, and then all of yesterday flooded back to me. First, my mother's kidnapping came back to me, then my father's arrest. Then, Matt deciding to take me and Kari in. Then, the fact that Kari and I were now more than just friends. Her parent's disappearance came back to me, and then the look on her face.

The memory still pained me, her eyes, puffy and red. As I was struck by all the memories from the day, I wanted to cry, laugh, scream, vomit, and punch a wall, all at once. But I did none of these, simply up, and preparing to face another day.

* * *

Kari's POV:

* * *

Sitting on the couch T.K and I had been making out on yesterday, I realized that I had no idea of what I was going to do today. Currently, I was alone, although I knew that would change a soon as T.K finally woke up.

I really had no idea of my surroundings beyond the house I was living in, hopefully temporarily, so I couldn't exactly go anywhere. T.K and I may have been able to take a walk, but we couldn't do that until he was up. But I was sick of waiting, partly because every moment I spend waiting was another moment I spent thinking about the sheer hopelessness of the situation. Because, no matter what T.K said, and no matter how well meaning those words might be, the situation was hopeless.

I scoured the room for SOMETHING to take my mind off the real world, at least until I had some power to deal with things, or had T.K to talk to. Luckily for me, there were about twenty or so pieces of scratch paper in the middle of the dining table (I assumed that Matt used them to write music on), and so I ran upstairs and took my art pencil out of my bag, and then went back downstairs to draw.

Sadly, my drawings all became vaguely gruesome and creepy, so much so that it would almost have been better to just sit around and do nothing. I almost envied T.K his naivety; he didn't seem to realize that we were in danger, and I envied him all the more because I couldn't really see any way out of this; what if we disappeared next?

Luckily, after a few such drawings, I heard the door to T.K's room open, and close. This was shortly followed by the door to bathroom opening and shutting, and the sound of water running.

"Great. He's taking a shower". I muttered to myself, "Guess I'll go back to drawing."

* * *

Matt's POV:

As I awoke, tangled in Sora, I almost wanted to laugh at myself. I mean, sure, it might not have seemed weird to anyone else, but that might well have been my last night, yet I'd spend it doing what I'd done every other night.

In fact, I would have laughed, but that might have hurt the girl I'd been sleeping with. And… I wasn't going to wreck the last day. And, whether or not I loved the girl, I wasn't heartless. With all that said, though, I wasn't exactly going to take death sitting down. Now that yesterday's disasters had panned out, it was time to begin leveling the playing field.

This, of course, presented me with the first decision of the new day; Wake the girl, or wait. And I really didn't know which I would do. On one hand, I wanted to begin doing whatever could be done RIGHT NOW. On the other hand, I wanted to make sure everyone was well rested for today; because it might be a very long day.

A nagging voice in the back of my head pointed out that if it was a long day, I was incredibly lucky. After all, it meant that I could actually do something, and that I'd lived long enough to call it a long day.

Then again, considering what I appeared to be facing, I was fairly sure I was safe for the next few days; after all, enemy, whoever that was, appeared to be baiting me. What, was this thing afraid of me or something?

Now, I REALLY wanted to laugh. Afraid of me. What in its right mind would be afraid of me? Sure, I'd once been dangerous and powerful, but now the only friends I had were part of the real world. And then, I understood.

Afraid of me. It, whatever 'it' was, was afraid of me and my friends. It was trying to clear a path to world conquest, or something of the like, and wanted me, and the other former digidestined, out of the way.

So, it was baiting us, trying to lure us into a trap.

This meant we had much, _much_ more time. It also meant we had a huge disadvantage.

"Sora?" I said, as gently as I could manage, "Wake up."

She looked confused; I normally didn't wake her up, preferring to go over in my corner and write lyrics.

"What is it?"

"Our 'kidnapper' may be more dangerous than I thought before."

She just looked at me, confused.

Of course, I hadn't told her what I'd already figured out.

"Never mind, I'll explain it later. I have to get the Digidestined together; if whatever we're facing is going to treat me like I'm an obstacle, I'll at least be an obstacle with teeth."

She looked really, _really_ confused now, but that was fine. I picked up the phone, and began calling Tai.


End file.
